But there's an exception to the exception, which prevents the Steelers from signing Dixon!

Yes...here's the section of the NFL rule book covering that:"a player under contract to a club as a Practice Squad player is completely free to sign a contract with another NFL club during the season in order to be on the second club's Active/Inactive (i.e., 53 man) list. A practice squad player may not sign an NFL Player Contract with his Club's next opponent later than 4:00 p.m., New York time, on the sixth day preceding the game (except in bye weeks, when the prohibition commences on the tenth day preceding the game).If another club signs a Practice Squad player to its 53 man roster it does not have to provide any sort of compensation to the player's former club but it generally must keep the player on the 53 man roster for at least 3 weeks, thereby mandating that he earns in 2007 the minimum first year salary for said 3 week period ($285,000 prorated weekly)."

So by signing Dixon at around 4:00 New York time, the Steelers can no longer sign Dixon.

If Charlie Batch was from anywhere other than Pittsburgh not a single person outside his family would think he should start this week. Hell, he probably wouldn't even be in the league anymore if he wasn't from here.

Dickie Dunn wrote:If Charlie Batch was from anywhere other than Pittsburgh not a single person outside his family would think he should start this week. Hell, he probably wouldn't even be in the league anymore if he wasn't from here.

Dickie Dunn wrote:If Charlie Batch was from anywhere other than Pittsburgh not a single person outside his family would think he should start this week. Hell, he probably wouldn't even be in the league anymore if he wasn't from here.

How dare you bad mouth Charlie Batch! How dare you! Good day to you, Sir.

mac5155 wrote:is he the backup this week? why does it seem this team never has any semblance of QB depth?

No NFL team has QB depth.

Ha. This exactly. If your backup QB is anywhere close in ability to your starter, your starter is likely not very good. Even teams with terrible QBs have even worse backups (Cassel/Quinn, Sanchez/Tebow, Weeden/McCoy). I'd challenge someone to find a team with 2 GOOD QBs.

Dickie Dunn wrote:If Charlie Batch was from anywhere other than Pittsburgh not a single person outside his family would think he should start this week. Hell, he probably wouldn't even be in the league anymore if he wasn't from here.

New York Jets :pop:

Teams don't keep 15 year veterans as 3rd string QBs, the minimum salary is too high (Batch makes more than Leftwich). Batch is brittle, has a dead arm, and has been lower than an afterthought for the rest of the league since he left Detroit. He remains here as a PR gift.

mac5155 wrote:is he the backup this week? why does it seem this team never has any semblance of QB depth?

Leftwich is a former starter in this league and was competent in that role. Not sure what else you want out of a backup QB. Kyle Orton, Jason Campbell, and Rex Grossman are the only other backups with significant starter experience that I'd view in his class. Hasselback too, but he is ancient. I'd say they have one of the top 10 backups in the league. I guess you can put people like Matt Flynn ahead of him depending on how you feel about his potential.

If your team is down to your 3rd stringer, then all is lost, so I wouldn't worry about Chaz Batch and how he compares versus the Greg McElroy's of the NFL.